The South Dakota Legislature has failed another moral test. This afternoon the House gave final approval* to Senate Bill 149, an overly broad “Sharia for Jesus” wedge bill that seeks to make it harder for gay couples to become parents.

Libby Skarin, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota, hopes the Governor will have the good sense to veto this bad bill:

Senate Bill 149 is a harmful and discriminatory piece of legislation that sets South Dakota backward. This would allow state-funded child placement agencies, based on their religious beliefs, to discriminate against children and prospective parents. Loving, qualified families could be turned away simply because they are LGBT, of a different faith than the agency, or divorced. The hundreds of children who are awaiting forever families in our state deserve better than this. Their best interests should be our priority, not the religious beliefs of these agencies.

We hope that Governor Daugaard recognizes the harm that discriminatory laws like SB 149 cause our state and considers a veto. If SB 149 becomes law, we want to hear from you or any child or family you know that is harmed. We will be examining our legal options [Libby Skarin, press release, ACLU-SD, 2017.03.02].

SB 149 isn’t about helping children find good parents. Quite the opposite, actually. Governor Daugaard, please save us from our own legislators.

SB 149 passed the House this afternoon 43–20, with seven excused. SB 149 passed the Senate 22–12, with one excused. Were the Governor to veto SB 149, it would take 47 votes in the House and 24 in the Senate to override.

Correction 18:57 CST: Whoops! The House tacked an amendment onto SB 149, meaning SB 149 goes back to the Senate for concurrence before going to the Governor. The amendment, moved by Rep. Timothy Johns (R-31/Lead), adds that the religious belief or moral conviction that a child-placement agency wants to invoke to deny services must be “contained in a written policy, statement of faith, or other document adhered to by a child-placement agency.” It requires that a child-placement agency that chooses deems parents religiously unworthy of its services must provide those rejects with a document listing the Department of Social Services website and a list of other licensed child-placement agencies. Finally, the Johns amendment adds a new section specifying that one child-placement agency’s choice to religiously discriminate against prospective parents “shall not be a factor in determining whether a placement in connection with the service is in the best interest of the child.”

After hearing numerous supporters doggedly avoid stating the real anti-LGBT intent of SB 149, Libby Skarin, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota, intelligently explained how SB 149 uses “broad and sweeping language” to “allow religion to be used to discriminate against loving, qualified parents who wish to open their homes to kids without them” (start listening at 79:20 of the SDPB audio). She said SB 149 would allow any child placement agency (not just faith-based or entirely private agencies—read the definition!) to turn away prospective parents based on “explicitly religious criteria” excluding “not only same-sex couples, but also people who have a different religion [from] the agency, single parents, interfaith couples… families that don’t attend church weekly, servicemembers or gun owners… based on the agency’s moral conviction regarding pacifism, all while children in need of homes languish in foster care and await permanent families. This bill even authorizes agencies to deny a child placement with a close relative and instead place that child with strangers if that relative is of the wrong religion….”

As the smartest, clearest speaker in the room Wednesday, Libby Skarin also pronounced her name clearly at the beginning of her testimony: the last name is /skreen/.

Senators Neal Tapio and Phil Jensen

Demonstrating at the very least that they weren’t listening closely to testimony, Senator Neal Tapio and Senator Phil Jensen both mispronounced Skarin’s name (Tapio: /SKAR-kin/; Jensen: /ka-RIN, KA-rin/).

Senator Tapio asked Skarin (104:08) if an adoption agency can discriminate against prospective parents with a religious belief in female genital mutilation. Senator Jensen asked Skarin if a known pedophile should be allowed to adopt a child. Skarin said neither such placement would be in the best interest of the child. Senator Jensen said such denial is a “judgment call.” Yet both Senators miss a crucial point: the behaviors they describe are felonies under state law (female genital mutilation: SDCL 28-18-37; pedophilia, Chapter 22-22). Tapio and Jensen are equating felony behavior with behaviors the state cannot punish, like not going to a certain church or any church or not being married to a person of the opposite sex.

In other words, Tapio and Jensen are saying that if you don’t fly right with their church, you might as well be a criminal.

SB 149 passed committee 5–2 (thank you, Chair Deb Soholt, for joining Senator Kevin Killer in voting nay). On the floor Thursday, Senator Billie Sutton invoked Rule 5-17, delaying consideration of SB 149 until this Wednesday, February 22, which gives decent folks plenty of time to e-mail Tapio and Jensen to misspell their names, then contact other, more sensible legislators and get them to vote no on this attempt to wedge Sharia for Jesus into our adoption laws.

During a week when anti-LGBT rhetoric manifested into literal violence in Orlando, a month in which we celebrate LGBT Pride, and a year in which we’ve seen over 200 anti-LGBT bills introduced nationwide, the City Council had the chance to stand against hatred and act bravely to affirm the legal rights and human dignity of this community.

…At this crucial time for the LGBT community, such silence is deafening. To introduce the hope of something resembling legal equality and to then snuff out that hope in the face opposition with no explanation is the opposite of bravery. It’s the opposite of open government. It breeds disappointment, distrust, and suspicion. LGBT community members and Sioux Falls residents deserve an explanation as to why this happened [Skarin, 2016.06.17].

Cross-apply that critique to our Congress, where moments of silence stand in for concrete action to study and remedy gun violence.

Sioux Falls, don’t wait for Marty Jackley to tell you what to do. Show some leadership, and show that you support equality for all of your residents.

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